RIIIIING-
Along with the tinnitus reverberating in my ears, the sight of the collapsing Underground City filled my vision.
“Do not leave a single one alive! Kill them all!”
“Imperial 7th Knight Order, we will carry out your command!”
Knights in gleaming armor surged forward, blue cloaks billowing behind them.
Perhaps because of the explosions, piles of stone were falling everywhere.
[Warning! - The stronghold is collapsing!]
[Shake off the pursuing hostile Heroes and evacuate the current area immediately!]
“This is fucking insane……!”
I immediately turned toward Aileen.
“Miss Aileen, we need to evacuate right now! The Imperial knights will be here any moment!”
“The child, here…… She is here…….”
Aileen was sitting on the ground, frantically digging through the rubble with both hands trembling.
Then, suddenly, she found a tiny hand beneath the stones.
“Ah…….”
She tightly clasped the small, blood-soaked hand.
But Perdi appeared from somewhere and roughly dragged her away while shouting that we had to evacuate immediately, forcing her to let go.
“Hey, you said your name was Setanta, right?! If you head that way, there is a secret passage leading to the surface!”
Perdi shouted as he pointed one thick finger toward a path between the collapsed pillars in the distance.
“I will hold off the Imperial bastards for as long as I can, so you two escape through there!”
Then, with a ferocious roar, he charged straight toward the Imperial knights.
My head was spinning.
What the hell is happening right now?
‘I thought I had finally secured a safe stronghold, and now this damned event suddenly gets triggered……?’
……Damn it.
For now, I have to grab the SSRs I pulled and get the hell out of here!
I immediately grabbed Aileen by the shoulders and shook her.
“Miss Aileen, snap out of it!”
“The child…… Our people…….”
“We have to evacuate!”
“……Our home…….”
[The target Hero is under extreme stress.]
Several System messages with ominous implications appeared in succession.
DING!
[Aileen’s mental state has deteriorated.]
[Status Effect - Mental Breakdown!]
Mental Breakdown suddenly appeared.
‘We barely have enough time to escape even if she were sane, and now she gets Mental Breakdown?’
And then—
[The Hero is in critical condition!]
[The shadow of death looms over the Hero.]
As though things were not already bad enough, a message appeared saying the Hero was on the verge of death.
‘Right, the Hero……!’
If that bastard dies, the world ends.
I have to go save him first!
“W-what, what is happening……?!”
Just then, Lian came running toward me in a panic after being jolted awake.
He looked back and forth between the blood-soaked rubble and Aileen’s vacant expression, then seemed to grasp the situation immediately.
……Right.
I will leave her to him for now.
“Mr. Lian, I am going to save my friend!”
“What? You mean that Imperial citizen named Charles?!”
“I heard there is a secret passage. I will meet you there later, so please take care of Miss Aileen!”
“Wait, Sir Setanta……!”
Leaving Lian behind as he reached out toward me with a bewildered expression, I sprinted at full speed toward the isolation cell where the Hero was trapped.
* * *
Avoiding combat as much as possible, I ran for quite some time before finally reaching the area near the isolation cell.
However, it seemed someone had arrived before me.
“Hey, someone is locked up in here!”
“He looks like he is almost dead…… Is he an Imperial citizen? If so, we absolutely have to save him!”
“Are we sure he is Imperial? What if these bastards locked up one of their own?”
Three knights wearing blue cloaks were lingering in front of the isolation cell.
“We should save him first and ask questions later, should we not? Turning our backs on an Imperial citizen in distress would be unbecoming of knights.”
“I completely agree. The honor of the Imperial Knights is at stake here.”
“Ha…… Fine. Let us save him first. These damned Ailant bastards are impossible to distinguish by appearance anyway…….”
……Estimated Grade: N.
Three low-ranking knights.
Watching people who had come here to massacre civilians prattle on about a knight’s honor was rather nauseating.
DING!
[TIP - If there is a relatively justifiable reason for causing injury or killing, a Hero’s Morality Value will not decrease.]
Perfect timing.
It was officially self-defense time.
I decided to make those knights ‘good’ from now on.
“Huh? I think someone is over th—”
“……?!”
STAB!
I immediately thrust my spear forward and drove it deep into the back of one Imperial knight’s head.
CRUNCH!
I twisted the spear before wrenching it free.
“Hans…… Hans is……!”
“K-kill that murderer right now!”
The Imperial knight charged at me with a furious shout, but I easily avoided his attack by stepping backward.
SHING-
Then I drew my sword and passed by him.
A diagonal line appeared across his waist.
……SPLAT!
The contents spilling from the bisected man painted the path in front of the isolation cell like a red carpet.
“Ah…… Ahhh…… AAAAAH-!”
The last remaining knight charged at me in a frenzy.
I switched back to my spear and used its superior reach to drive it straight through the center of his body.
CRUNCH!
The knight’s chest bulged out from his back as the spear pierced clean through him.
“U-ugh, uhh…….”
The moment I ripped the spear free with a sweeping motion through the air, the torso that had been skewered like meat on a spit tore halfway apart along with the armor and rolled across the cold stone floor several times.
“…….”
THUMP, THUMP-.
My heart pounded violently.
I had just killed three people.
Not in a fight, either.
I had slaughtered them one-sidedly.
……Just like Setanta had massacred every ally in the final chapter with overwhelming power.
As though I really had become Setanta……?
“…….”
I wiped my face with my bloodstained hand.
……No.
This is not the time for this.
I need to find the Hero.
I immediately checked inside the isolation cell and found the Hero pinned beneath rubble from the collapsed ceiling.
CRUNCH!
I tore the bars off the isolation cell and rushed inside.
“Hey, Charles! Wake up!”
I hurried over, threw the rubble aside, and lifted the Hero into my arms.
But his condition was terrible.
His neck hung limply, and his chest and mouth were covered in blood.
POP!
I pulled the stopper from a potion and desperately poured it over every bleeding wound I could find.
But there was no improvement.
His heartbeat only grew weaker, and his body colder.
[The target’s regenerative nervous system is overloaded.]
[Status Effect - Potion Addiction!]
‘……Is it because it has not been long since his severe injuries from the tutorial were healed with potions?’
Even then, the Underground City continued to collapse around us with constant CRASHES and RUMBLES.
For now, I hoisted the Hero onto my back and left the isolation cell.
THOOM!
One after another, the irregular pillars stretching all the way to the ceiling of the Underground City slowly began to collapse.
We really were out of time now.
I ran and ran toward the place where the secret passage was supposed to be.
Along the way, I even made eye contact with an older knight whose graying hair made him look like the commander of the order.
“…….”
He only stared at me for a moment.
Fortunately, he showed no intention of fighting, so I passed him without incident.
‘Where is the secret passage Perdi mentioned? It should be around here……!’
Huff, huff…….
Just as I desperately searched for the entrance while gasping for breath—
“Over here! Sir Setanta, it is here!”
“……!”
A familiar voice called out to me.
“I placed a perception-dampening magic circle along this passage, so they should not find us for a while!”
It seemed Lian had been waiting for me all this time.
Aileen stood beside him, but her eyes were unfocused, as though her mind had completely gone blank.
She did not respond even when I called her.
“What about Mr. Perdi? Where is that huge brute?”
“Perdi is…… sturdy, so he will be fine! For now, let us escape on our own……!”
Lian pointed toward the secret passage, his face deathly pale.
‘He is sturdy, so he will be fine, huh…….’
【Ironclad Skin(+)】
-Tough skin is not easily pierced even by sharp blades.
Perdi probably had some defensive Trait like that.
Even in the original, he was a tenacious bastard who somehow survived no matter how many blades hacked away at him, so I decided to trust him.
We ran through the secret passage for a long time before finally reaching the surface.
How long had we been running?
Eventually, the musty air cleared, and cold night air filled my lungs.
“…….”
I raised my head and looked at the sky.
Despite it being the middle of a moonless night, the heavens burned with an ominous dark crimson glow.
* * *
For the moment, we decided to hide in a nearby abandoned house.
“I cast perception-dampening magic on this place. Unless someone happens to wander inside by chance, they probably will not find us…….”
Lian spoke with bloodshot eyes.
It seemed he had reached the limits of his stamina.
Rustle-.
I pressed my fingers against the Hero’s rapidly cooling neck and checked his pulse.
Because Potion Addiction had appeared, potions did nothing for him.
Naturally, we had no healer either.
……At this rate, the Hero would definitely die.
“Mr. Lian, I have a favor to ask.”
“A favor……?”
“Transfer Charles’s soul. Keep him from dying.”
I asked Lian to perform a soul transfer.
Even in the original game, this Dark Mage often used magic to transfer other people’s souls into objects or small animals.
Perhaps by applying that technique, we could fix the Hero in a state where he ‘could not die.’
“Ah…….”
Lian let out a low groan before giving me a troubled look.
“Sir Setanta, it is possible, but……. The reason you want to transfer your friend is to give him a second life, correct?”
“That is right. Please keep Charles from dying. I want this bastard to live for a long time.”
“……That is impossible.”
With his gray hair hanging over his face, Lian lowered his gaze.
“My magic is by no means sacred. These jelly dolls have short lifespans. Fundamentally, their souls are embedded within them in the form of a curse.”
“…….”
“To transfer your friend’s soul in the manner you desire…… we would need a slightly different method.”
“What method?”
“If we were to make your friend’s soul one of your familiars, it might be possible…….”
A familiar?
Ah, does he mean making him my pet?
“But that would require a considerable amount of divine power. The force would need to be strong enough to counteract the mana I manipulate—”
“Then use this.”
I immediately took the holy relic out of my storage pouch and held it out.
Lian froze when he saw it.
Then his eyes widened.
“H-how did you get this?”
“Please make good use of it.”
“Understood……! With this, it is possible!”
The Hero was moments away from breathing his last, so we immediately began the procedure.
“Sir Setanta, first we need a new vessel to contain your friend. Please find something as close to a living organism as possible.”
“……I will look around.”
‘First, I need to find a vessel for the Hero.’
After quickly searching the abandoned house, I found a rotten rat inside a wire cage.
‘Was this a pet rat kept by whoever used to live here?’
Lian had said that an organic body would be preferable to an object when creating a familiar.
It was not ideal, but I decided to use it.
Soon, the Hero, the holy relic, and the rotten rat had all been placed inside the magic circle.
Lian took both of my hands and repeatedly warned me.
“You must not move until the ritual is finished, Sir Setanta.”
“Does that mean neither of us will be able to act during the ritual?”
“……Yes. You must not move, nor can you disrupt the flow of mana.”
“…….”
“If the synchronization falters while I connect the two souls and establish the familiar bond, your friend’s soul will disappear entirely.”
He had said he cast perception-dampening magic over this abandoned house.
Still, it would be reassuring to have someone keeping watch.
“Miss Aileen, if anyone suspicious comes here, can you deal with them?”
“…….”
I asked Aileen, who stood by the door, but she gave no answer.
Her eyes were still unfocused.
It seemed her mind had truly broken.
‘It would be better to just get this over with quickly. Mr. Lian, please begin!”
“Then, Sir Setanta, focus on the flow of mana from this point onward…….”
Purple mana slowly began swirling around the Hero lying on the floor.
‘Please…… Please, let this finish without any problems!’
The Hero’s fading breaths.
The strange flow of mana, bubbling upward and sinking down as it undulated…….
After concentrating for what felt like an eternity, flesh finally began to slowly form over the rotten rat’s body.
“Sir Setanta, we are almost finished. Do not move under any circumstances…….”
Just as the ritual was about to enter its final stage—
“What? There was a house here too?”
“……!”
A voice came from outside the abandoned house.
RATTLE, RATTLE!
Apparently, an Imperial knight searching the area had discovered the building.
He was trying to open the door.
“Strange. I did not even realize there was a house here until I got close……? This is suspicious.”
……Damn it.
Of all times, why now?!
‘Aileen……!’
I desperately stared at Aileen, who stood in front of the door.
But her eyes were still completely vacant.
‘This is fucking insane…….’
I silently begged her to at least buy us some time.
Then—
BANG.
“……?”
Aileen suddenly opened the door.
“Huh? Miss, who are y—”
Before the knight could even finish speaking, Aileen grabbed him by the collar and slammed him straight into the floor.
THUD!
“U-ugh…….”
……CLICK.
Without taking her eyes off the knight, she locked the door again.
Then she immediately drew her ironwood sword and smashed it down onto the crown of his head with all her strength.
CRACK!
A dull impact echoed through the room.
“…….”
She brought the ironwood sword down once more on the knight’s caved-in skull.
THWACK!
Blood sprayed across her cheek.
……CLACK.
CLACK, CLACK, CLACK-.
Aileen reached behind herself and repeatedly tried to draw Claíomh Solais.
But when the sword refused to budge, she picked up her original weapon again.
THUD, CRACK!
She struck the Imperial knight’s corpse again and again.
……THUD.
CRACK, CRUNCH…….
Until it had been reduced to minced meat.
[Aileen’s 【Pacifist(-)】 Trait has been removed!]